


The Island of Dr. Moreau: One-Shots

by cosimasdreads03



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-07-02
Packaged: 2018-07-16 09:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7261369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosimasdreads03/pseuds/cosimasdreads03
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"She's here with us now. We have have to take care of her," said Cosima to Delphine, looking at Charlotte's peaceful sleeping face. "We're all she's got.</p><p>What are Cosima, Delphine, and Charlotte up to on the Island of Dr. Moreau? A series of one-shots exploring how the three of them form a bond with each other, struggling to heal in the face of trauma and danger. Multi-genre -- sometimes funny, sometimes cute, but also sometimes angsty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

[1]  
Three days after Cosima had arrived at the camp, she was finally off oxygen and could breathe on her own. That afternoon, Delphine knelt by Cosima’s bedside as quietly as she could to watch her sleep, delighting in the soft evenness of her breath.

After a few minutes, Cosima opened her eyes drowsily and smiled. “Hey.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay,” Cosima said, yawning. “I was just dozing, anyway.”

Delphine reached out to softly touch her cheek. “You’re breathing so much easier now.”

“Yeah, it feels really good.”

“Good.” Delphine smiled. “Are you feeling well enough for visitors? You have a little girl who wants to see you. She’s been asking for you for days now.”

“Charlotte?” Cosima’s eyes widened, and she struggled to sit up in her bed. “Is she all right? They took her when I got here, and – ”

“Shh,” Delphine said. “It’s okay. She’s fine, and she’s here now, actually.” She turned to the door. “Charlotte? You can come in.”

Charlotte peered cautiously around the door frame. “Cosima?”

Cosima smiled. “Hey, sweetie! Come over here by me – you don’t have to be scared.”

The little girl crept up to Cosima’s bedside. “Are you feeling better?”

Cosima smiled. “Yeah.”

“They took me away when we got here,” she said. “I heard them talking. They said you were really sick. Then you slept for days and days. I was really scared.”

“Hey now,” Cosima said, frowning. “You don’t have to worry about any of that stuff. And hey, there’s someone you should meet.” She gestured to Delphine. “Charlotte, this is Delphine. She’s a doctor, and a very good friend of mine.”

Charlotte looked shyly at Delphine, and then at Cosima. “Is she going to help us get better?”

Delphine smiled at Charlotte. “I’m going try my best, I promise.” She touched Cosima’s cheek, giving her a meaningful look. “I had better go now, _chèrie_ – they’ll notice that I’ve been gone awhile. I’ll try to come back later this evening.”

She walked out of the tent, leaving Charlotte curled up by Cosima’s bedside. Cosima wrapped one of the little girl’s braids around her finger, tugging it lightly. “Why the long face, cutie pie?”

“I’m just wondering … when can we leave here and go back home?”

Cosima sighed. “I don’t know, sweetie.”

“But … are the people here bad? Are they going to hurt us, just like Rachel hurt Susan?”

Cosima winced. “God. I’m so, so sorry you had to see that.” She drew Charlotte closer to her. “And no, nobody’s going to hurt you. I would never let that happen.”

Charlotte’s eyes welled up. “I have lots of bad dreams at night,” she whispered, her lip trembling. “I see sad and scary things. I don’t like to go to sleep anymore.”

Cosima sighed. “That used to happen to me too, sweetheart,” she whispered, thinking of the long, black nights she’d had when she thought Delphine was dead. “It used to happen a lot, actually.”

“Really? You’ve had sad, scary dreams too?”

“Oh, totally.”

“Do you still have them now?”

“Sometimes. But the scariest ones have gone away.” She traced Charlotte’s face. “You don’t have to worry, monkey. I promise, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

 

[2]  
Left to their own devices with very little to do except wait and grow stronger, Cosima and Charlotte were soon inseparable. And over the next few weeks, Delphine made every excuse she could to sneak back into Cosima’s cabin, as the thought of being apart from her for more than a few moments seemed unbearable.

Charlotte was shy around Delphine at first, especially considering most of their early interactions involved checkups and needle pricks. However, it didn’t take long for the French doctor’s warm, sweet manner to win her over, and they became fast friends.

“How did you become a doctor?” Charlotte asked Delphine one evening, when Cosima had grown strong enough to step outside the cabin for a moment by herself.

“Well, I went to a university in France and did this program called a PhD. It took many years, and I had to study really hard.”

“PhD? Is that where you met Auntie Cosima? Were you in the same class?”

Delphine smiled. “Yes. Well, it was sort of like that.”

“And you became best friends right away?”

“Well …” Delphine paused, laughing a little. “I guess you could say that. When I met her, I could tell that she was smart and funny and kind, and I knew I wanted to be around her.”

Charlotte looked thoughtful. “You like her a whole lot, don’t you?”

Delphine blushed, smiling again. “I do.”

“Well … Auntie Cosima really likes you a lot too,” Charlotte said solemnly, as if divulging a deep secret. “I can tell, because even on days when she sleeps a whole lot and looks like she’s worried about things, she always gets really, really happy whenever you visit – even if you’re just there to poke her with needles. She laughs a lot when you talk to her, and …” Charlotte leaned in close to Delphine, lowering her voice to a whisper, “ _And_ , she even told me she thinks you’re really pretty. So don’t tell her I told you, but I think she maybe has a crush on you.”

Delphine felt a delighted laugh, the first one in many weeks, bubble up like champagne in her throat. “Is that so? Well, don’t tell anyone, but I think I maybe have a crush on her, too.”

 

[3]  
“You don’t look like a doctor,” Charlotte mused to Delphine one evening, as the three of them sat together in the cabin playing gin rummy.

Delphine laughed. “Why not? Because I don’t have a white coat?”

Charlotte shook her head solemnly. “No, because all the doctors I’ve seen were always scary old men who walk around with angry faces. But you’re not like that at all. You have a nice smile. And also, your hair is way too pretty.”

Delphine blushed, but Cosima grinned widely, jostling her arm and looking deeply amused. “Ooh, Dr. Cormier! We’re totally on to you now. Your hair is far too perfect for you to be a real doctor. Who are you really, anyways?”

“Alas! I’ve been caught,” Delphine laughed, holding her hands up in mock surrender. “I should have known that _ma coiffure_ would one day give me away.”

Cosima turned to Charlotte, her eyes twinkling. “Hey … I bet she’s secretly a spy,” she whispered. “So we need to find a way to get all that secret information out of her.”

“What should we do?” Charlotte whispered back, giggling.

Cosima narrowed her eyes in mock seriousness. “Tickle torture.”

Charlotte squealed, her face lighting up. “I’ll hold her!”

“No!” cried Delphine, laughing as she unsuccessfully tried to scramble away. “Show mercy!”

“Never!” Cosima cried, reaching around to tickle the warm corners of her elbows and knees. “You’re ours, Dr. Cormier!”

“Yeah, you have to surrender!” Charlotte cried, sitting down on top of her legs. “We’ve got you! There’s no escape!”

And even as she lay doubled over on the bed fighting off her attackers, Delphine exulted in the golden sound of their laughter and their strong warm limbs against her own, reminders that their illness was at least temporarily at bay. For the time being, they were safe. They were together.


	2. Chapter 2

[4]  
Cosima was given the cure first. “I guess I get first dibs because I’m your favorite patient,” she’d joked with Delphine as they both watched the IV fluids drip into her arm that first time. Neither of them had wanted to admit that it was still experimental. Still risky.

But when several days passed without any adverse reaction, they knew it was time to start with Charlotte.

So when Charlotte walked in on one of Cosima’s daily treatment sessions, she was met with open arms and a big grin. “Hey, sweetheart! Good news – we can start your treatment tomorrow!”

Charlotte pointed at the tube in Cosima’s arm, looking dubious. “Does that mean I have to get an IV too? I really don’t like them.”

“Yeah, me neither. But it’s just one pinch, and then it doesn’t hurt at all once it’s in, see?” Cosima raised her arm and lowered it. “It’s not a big deal, I promise.”

Charlotte still looked fearful, so Delphine turned away from her medical charts to smile kindly at her. “Hey now, I thought we were buddies!”

Charlotte giggled, smiling a little. “Yeah. We are.”

“Good.” Delphine smiled back. “Then as your buddy, I promise you that I’ll be very careful, and very, very gentle. And plus, Cosima can sit right next to you the whole time. So you don’t have to be scared, okay?”

“Okay.” Charlotte curled up next to Cosima on the bed, looking more relaxed. “So do you feel any better yet?”

“Uhh … well, it’s still kind of early for that, monkey.” She paused to clear her throat, suppressing a cough. “It, um, might take a little while for us to get better. We just have to be patient.”

Charlotte looked thoughtful for a long moment, then turned to Delphine. “Delphine … since you’re a doctor, can you … can you fix other things?”

“Well, like what?”

Charlotte bit her lip. “You know …” Her face reddened, and she gestured to her leg.

Delphine and Cosima looked blankly at each other for a long moment, lost for words.

“I just thought … I just thought since you’re a doctor, you could maybe …” Charlotte continued, blushing furiously as she looked down at the floor.

Delphine put down her chart and knelt down next to the little girl, guiding her chin upwards. “Hey now. Look at me.” She sighed. “You know we think you’re so beautiful and special, right?”

Charlotte sniffled a little. “Yeah.”

“Okay. So let’s just … let’s just take things one step at a time. Cosima and I are going to make sure you get well first. But when we are home, I’ll take you to where I work, and I promise you that I will take a very good look at your leg, and I’ll do anything I can to help you.” She held out her hand to shake. “Is that a deal, buddy?”

Charlotte gave a small smile. “It’s a deal.”

 

 

[5]  
One evening later that week, Charlotte crept over to Cosima’s bedside.

“Cosima?” she called softly. “Cosima, wake up.”

Cosima opened her eyes groggily. “Hey. What’s the matter?”

Charlotte didn’t speak. Just opened her hand to reveal a small rosette of blood, blooming darkly in her palm.

Cosima took a sharp breath, pulling the little girl’s hand closer to examine.

“When did this happen, Charlotte?” she asked urgently.

“Just now. I woke up because my lungs felt all heavy. Then it got hard to breathe, and I just had to cough.”

“Is this the first time? Have you coughed up blood at all over the past few days?”

“Yeah. A few times.”

“When? How many times? How much blood?” Cosima asked, her gaze intense, the gears already spinning in her brain. “Come on, try to think really hard, Char.”

“I don’t know. I can’t remember. I think it was just a few times.” Charlotte’s voice trembled. “I’m sorry. Are you mad?”

Cosima’s face had gone pale, but her eyes softened. “Hey, hey, you don’t have to be sorry. I’m not mad. Sorry I spoke like that.”

“I thought the cure was going to make us better,” Charlotte whispered. “Is it not working?”

Cosima sighed. “Maybe it’ll take a little longer than we thought, baby. But let’s not worry more about that now. It’s late, and you need to rest.”

“Can I stay here with you?”

Cosima smiled. “Sure.”

Charlotte nestled into Cosima’s arm at once. But a few minutes later, her eyes opened again. “Cosima?” she whispered.

“Mmmm?”

“What if I never get better?” Charlotte whispered. “Then what happens?”

And Cosima has to fight hard to swallow the panic that has climbed up her throat, clawing and howling like a wolf in a cage. She holds Charlotte close.

“Not getting better is not an option,” she says firmly. She prays that her words are true.

 

[6]  
Charlotte’s clothes had become tattered, and as there were no child-sized clothes readily available at the camp, Delphine procured some linen fabric from a storage cabinet and spent an evening cutting and sewing by the fire.

“Is that really for me?” Charlotte asked, beaming as Delphine held out the finished product, a simple white dress.

“Yes. It’s been a long time since I’ve sewed, but I think this will suffice. Now come over here, I want to see you in it.”

Charlotte tugged the dress over her head, and Delphine and Cosima gave gasps of delight.

“Dude, you look totally awesome!” Cosima said, grinning. “Go look in the mirror!”

But Delphine beckoned her over. “Wait, but one last thing – let me see your hair.”

With deft fingers, she untied the little girl’s braids and her hair came undone, rippling in waves down her back.

“ _Ma princesse_ ,” Delphine cooed. “You look like an angel.”

“Yeah, she totally does!”

Charlotte skipped in place, looking delighted. “Really?”

“Yes!” Delphine sighed. “Ah, if we were in France I know exactly the tailor I’d take you to. He makes the finest dresses for little girls.” She fingered the hem of the dress wistfully. “This would be completely made of silk – silk as smooth and rich as butter. And he’d put lace right here, and a nice collar here, and tie the back with a big crisp ribbon.”

“Sounds like it’d look like a birthday cake,” observed Cosima, chuckling when the blonde woman elbowed her in the side.

“You should appreciate _haute couture_ , Cosima.”

“I do, I do! Well, I’m trying! But it’s kinda hard to do that when we’re sitting in gross camp clothes over here …”

“But it’s about _imagining it_ , not about actually having it …”

Ignoring their banter, Charlotte had already run to the mirror, craning to see herself in its small dented frame. “Oh, I love it!” she cried. She twirled a little, surprisingly graceful despite her crooked leg.

“When we are home, I’ll take you shopping,” said Delphine. “We’ll get you a dress in every color.”

“You’ll spoil her rotten,” Cosima teased.

“Oh, hush. Let me have my fun.”

They watched Charlotte dance about the room. “So you’re not just saying it, right?” Cosima asked quietly. “You really think we’re gonna get out of this okay?”

Delphine’s eyes were especially soft as she pulled Cosima close. “Yes, I do.” She threaded her fingers through Cosima’s. “We are together now. I am not going to lose you again.”

**Author's Note:**

> More to come! In the meantime, check out my other works.


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